CH 39

Chapter 39: To Meet By Chance

Yue Zhishi was still in his classroom when he sent across his messages. After hearing they’d be let out early for their monthly break, he was too excited to sit still and for the first time, sneakily used his phone while his teacher was still standing at the podium.

He was so excited, he completely missed the reason why they were being released for their monthly break so early in the morning.

In the classroom, his classmates were all delighted at the news, and the class adviser once again stressed, “The storm warning this time is level red and might be the largest amount of rain we’ve had so far this year. Those who live at school, try not to leave if you can. Safety comes first…”

Yue Zhishi was entirely focused on his WeChat. He’d thought he would have needed to wait for a long time, but Song Yu’s reply came faster than he’d imagined.

[Xiao Yu gege: It’s raining today, don’t come.]

Yue Zhishi drew his eyebrows together, not quite happy with his reply.

[Yue Zhishi: No way, I agreed to it last night. If you don’t come see me, then I’ll go look for you at your research lab building.]

After he finished typing, Yue Zhishi lifted his head and saw everyone was already packing their things away to go home, so he stuffed his phone into his pocket and quickly got himself ready as well. His phone was set to silent mode — Yue Zhishi only remembered after he’d gotten on the bus home. He immediately looked at it, and as expected, there was a reply sent two minutes after he’d sent out his own.

[Xiao Yu gege: What time]

There was another message right under it, only one minute separating the two.

[Xiao Yu gege: I need to go to the lab right now, there’s a bunch of new data I need to organise and remodel. Let me know when you’re almost here, and I’ll come out and get you. Remember to bring an umbrella, and be careful on your way here.]

Song Yu usually didn’t speak much, but he often explained himself very clearly even though Yue Zhishi didn’t know what his work was and what he needed to do.

Yue Zhishi silently reread Song Yu’s messages and thought their conversation felt a bit stiff, so he sent over a sticker of a little puppy nodding, making their chat feel a lot gentler.

[Yue Zhishi: I’ll arrive at 6pm.]

He didn’t want to tell Song Yu he’d been let out early — he wanted to give him a surprise. It was fine even if Song Yu needed to study; he could always sit next to him and not bother him.

It would be very nice to see him earlier.

When he got home, Lin Rong was just pouring the finished soup into an insulated container. She praised Peiya for having a conscience when she heard he was released early, but she was still a bit worried at Yue Zhishi going to Wuhan U.

Lin Rong waited for Yue Zhishi to come down again after changing his clothes and said, “If you go over in the afternoon, what are you going to do if it starts storming? It’s really not safe enough if you’re in a car.”

Yue Zhishi was wearing a smoky blue short-sleeved t-shirt with a pair of black jeans, and his outfit emphasised his long arms and legs and his pale, glowing skin. He held a black baseball cap and went to sit in front of the dining table, pushing a small piece of cantaloupe into his mouth with a fork. “Then I’ll take the subway. It goes directly there anyway even if it’s a bit slower.”

“Why don’t I go instead.” Lin Rong was still anxious. “I’ll drive over there and then head to the high-speed rail from Wuhan U.”

“Don’t, it’ll be too much of a hassle. You’re only taking the high-speed rail because your flight was cancelled. What if your train’s delayed?” Yue Zhishi chose a bigger piece of fruit and stretched out his arm until the cantaloupe piece rested next to Lin Rong’s mouth. “Aunt Rong, don’t worry, nothing will happen.”

Yue Zhishi added, “Besides, I was already planning to head over earlier. It’s 10am right now, and I’ll get there right in time to eat lunch with gege. I still haven’t tried Wuhan U’s cafeterias.”

Lin Rong felt this plan was workable and placed the insulation container into a bag. “You’ve already discussed it with your brother?”

Yue Zhishi nodded but didn’t tell Lin Rong about his planned surprise. “He said he’ll pick me up at the entrance.”

“Your brother, really… It would be nice if he came home more.” Lin Rong knelt down and opened the oven door, her voice carrying a slight hint of grumbling. “He only came home once every three months last year. He still has yet to come back after starting school again after the summer holidays.” Lin Rong had made some salted-egg puffs and flower pastries specifically for Song Yu’s roommates, and they had just finished in the oven and were ready to be packed away.

“Maybe he’s too busy. They all say some university studies are scarier than third year of high school.” Yue Zhishi helped Lin Rong wrap and place the pastries into another container before also putting it into his school bag. Both of the pastries were made without any wheat flour, so he tried some as he was putting them away. The salted-egg puff still had a warm, gooey centre, was particularly fragrant and was very delicious.

Lin Rong released her ponytail after packing up the food and cleaning up the kitchen. “I don’t think so, that guy might’ve found himself a girlfriend. He might be too busy hanging out with his girlfriend at school, so he doesn’t want to come home.”

Yue Zhishi was just about to pull on his bag. He froze at Lin Rong’s words.

Lin Rong always liked teasing her children, but her teasing was never truly serious — she always forgot what she said immediately after, always changing the topic of the conversation faster than anyone else. “It’s fine if you’re going to eat on campus, but please be careful and don’t eat anything you can’t eat.” She added some nutritional supplements into Yue Zhishi’s bag. “Is it heavy? If it is, let’s take some things out.”

“No.” Yue Zhishi lifted his head and looked at the clock. It wasn’t early anymore, so he turned around and urged Lin Rong to hurry to the high-speed rail.

The two of them ended up leaving together. Lin Rong sent Yue Zhishi to the subway station, placing an umbrella in his hand, and kept giving him reminders as if he was a young child. Yue Zhishi said, laughing, “Why don’t you come together with me? Don’t go to uncle anymore, we can have a two person day trip to Wuhan U.”

Only then did Lin Rong start to relax. She smiled and said, “Then your uncle will be too pitiful. All right, hurry up and get on the subway.”

“Okay. Give me a video call when you get there.” Yue Zhishi got on the escalator and waved back at Lin Rong.

There were many people in the subway station, the majority of them either students on a break or people who’d come out to play on the weekend. Yue Zhishi got on his train and, with a very good stroke of luck, found an empty seat. He sat down, and a young couple stood in front of him, the man quite tall. The man’s right hand held onto the strap handle, while his left hand held onto his girlfriend’s waist. The woman stood a bit unsteadily, her arms wrapped around her boyfriend’s entire waist as she leaned against his chest, looking as if she was greatly reluctant to let go.

There was very little distance between the couple and Yue Zhishi. He felt it was a bit impolite to keep staring at them, especially since the woman had already, maybe intentionally or not, glanced at him, so he pulled his cap lower onto his face and closed his eyes, pretending to sleep.

He thought he would only pretend to sleep, but Yue Zhishi actually did fall asleep. When he woke up, the couple was already gone, and the train cabin was still just as full as before. The train arrived at a stop, and coincidentally enough, it was the one Yue Zhishi needed to get off at.

There were so many people. Yue Zhishi immediately stood up, carrying his backpack and holding the insulation container, and pushed against the people tightly packed inside the cabin like sardines. He finally managed to get out right as the doors were about to close. Yue Zhishi felt like he’d been reborn, like a fish who’d managed to escape from a fish pot back to the ocean.

He climbed onto the escalator, emotionally sighing in his heart about how lucky he was today — there just so happened to be an empty seat, and he just so happened to wake up as the train arrived at his stop. But he was struck dumb when he reached the entrance to the subway and saw the rain pouring down like a waterfall.

An old granny was at the entrance selling some things with a stall, and she tilted her head to watch as this beautiful boy patted down his body, looking as if he’d just had something stolen. He then turned around to face the subway, frustrated, and walked only two steps before spinning back around and staring blankly at the storm.

She tentatively asked, “Little handsome boy, would you like to buy an umbrella? Fifteen yuan for one, very cheap. It’s my last one.”

And then her wish was fulfilled.

Yue Zhishi bought her last umbrella. It was long and transparent, and as he opened it, getting ready to leave, he saw the old granny lower her head and arrange the wet items lying on her stall. Fresh gardenia and magnolia flowers were neatly laid out, and there weren’t many left.

Glancing at the heavy rain, Yue Zhishi paused. He crouched down and softly asked, “Granny, how much for these flowers?”

“You’d like some flowers?” The old granny was a little surprised at first, but then she very quickly gave Yue Zhishi a price. A fresh magnolia flower earring hung from her earlobe, and as she spoke, it lightly rocked back and forth, dispersing a light fragrance into the air.

The subway entrance was overcrowded with people. Everyone was very busy, hurrying to and fro, and not many people cared about this faint flower fragrance.

“I’d like all of them.”

The old granny smiled from ear to ear and carefully wrapped up the flowers for him. “You must be giving them to your girlfriend. I’ll wrap them up for you. You can display them for a few days, they smell very nice.”

Yue Zhishi gave her his money, and then very truthfully said, smiling, “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Aiyah, no way, how could a good-looking boy like you not have a girlfriend.” She encased the flowers in a layer of transparent foil before handing it to Yue Zhishi. “I’m here every day. You’re the most handsome boy I’ve ever seen.”

Yue Zhishi was a bit shy at all her praise. He helped her put away her stall and repeatedly urged her home, saying the storm will last for a very long time.

He started to leave the subway station only after he watched the old granny walk a far distance away with an old, checkered umbrella. He carried the transparent umbrella he hadn’t really needed to buy and headed towards Wuhan U.

After starting high school, Yue Zhishi would occasionally ask to visit Song Yu during his school breaks, but his requests were denied more often than not. He also knew Song Yu was very busy and didn’t have much time to accompany him, so he later stopped trying. He’d only come by once, when Lin Rong wanted to see Song Yu and brought Yue Zhishi along, but he didn’t get the chance to enter Song Yu’s dormitory.

And then afterwards, he too became busier and busier. There were less and less school breaks, and so he had no appropriate excuse to come to Wuhan U.

The torrential rain never stopped, the raindrops loudly drumming onto his umbrella. The ground was already flooded by a layer of water, and Yue Zhishi’s pair of canvas shoes was very quickly drenched. Wuhan U was truly too large — he was lost as soon as he went in. Yue Zhishi tried looking for where he needed to go through the map app on his phone, but he ended up needing to stop a girl to ask for directions. He finally managed to find that very hidden school building.

The time had just passed 12pm. The sky was dark and gloomy, the storm clouds covering over half the sky. Since he arrived so early, maybe he’d be able to get Song Yu to eat lunch with him. Yue Zhishi knew very well Song Yu never paid much attention to his meals and would often forget to eat whenever he was busy. If no one pushed for him to eat at this time, it was very unlikely for him to have already eaten.

He started to imagine how Song Yu would react when he saw him — he’d definitely immediately blame Yue Zhishi for not informing him ahead of time and ruining his plans. And then, with a slightly reluctant face, he’d tell him he can’t do this again next time before he took him somewhere to eat.

Yue Zhishi’s footsteps paused as he was about to reach the building. He changed the hand carrying the insulation container, using the other hand to hold his umbrella since his wrist was starting to get a bit sore. A gust of wind blew just as he was changing things over, and the umbrella was almost blown upside down. Yue Zhishi raised a hand to steady the umbrella, but then his cap was lifted away by the wind and fell to the ground, the rain very quickly soaking through it.

Yue Zhishi wanted to bend over and pick his cap back up, but no matter how he juggled the items in his hands, the umbrella and container sat very awkwardly in his arms. He was too tired. He stood there, looking up and sighing, when he abruptly saw a familiar figure come out of that school building.

It was Song Yu.

There was nothing more coincidental than this. Yue Zhishi was about to call out his name, but then he saw a short and petite girl come out next to him. The two of them stood quite closely, a black umbrella in Song Yu’s hand, and the girl kept looking at him with her head raised as she spoke. She was standing slightly on her tiptoes and didn’t stop talking while Song Yu occasionally nodded and briefly replied a few words.

He didn’t know why, but when he saw Song Yu nodding, Yue Zhishi’s heart inexplicably and unconsciously sprouted a sense of discouragement, of anxiety, and it urged him to leave this place. The rain was pouring very heavily onto his umbrella, the ground — it was everywhere, and nothing was able to dodge from it.

Yue Zhishi was worrying about his cap just a second ago, but now he didn’t have the ability to think about it anymore. He turned around, used the umbrella to block half of his body, and left the place with hasty footsteps before he quickly started to run.

He could feel that there was much more water on the ground than before. His pants already belonged to the rain, and even though his upper half of his body hadn’t been rained on, the feeling of cold dampness spreading from his lower half and travelling upwards trapped him, making him uncomfortable. He ran without thinking, exiting from a little alleyway, and tried to find a place he could sit and hide from the rain. Because he truly was tired.

When he escaped, the splashes from his footsteps made a little noise, but the sound very quickly disappeared in the unstoppable heavy rain. More and more students started to gather together underneath the school building, and they were all discussing which cafeteria to go to for lunch.

“Song Yu? Are you still listening?”

Song Yu brought his gaze back, but he was still frowning. He somewhat perfunctorily apologised for his loss of attention. “Sorry.”

“That’s okay.” The girl smiled very brightly and looked like she didn’t really care. “We can talk about the rest in the afternoon. Let’s go eat first.” She felt she’d invited him very naturally, with a low possibility of being rejected.

But she didn’t expect Song Yu to lower his head, pulling out his phone and calling someone, before he somewhat absentmindedly said to her, “I have something to do, I’m not eating anymore.”

“Ah? Not eating?” The girl was dumbfounded for a moment, then she leaned closer a bit and looked at Song Yu. She noticed his attention was no longer on her, and he’d even already pulled a slight distance away.

She tried a new different tactic, a bit of plea entering her face. She said, voice very soft, “Then can you send me to my dorm? I didn’t bring an umbrella. It’s very close, just over there.”

The rain really was too heavy, and the students around them were all mostly sharing their umbrellas as they quickly departed. She focused on Song Yu, and seeing him call again without anyone picking up the phone, she’d thought he didn’t hear her request and prepared to ask again.

“You can borrow it.” Song Yu gave the umbrella to the girl, and then he ran into the rain.

The girl stood there with the umbrella, frozen. She didn’t understand why Song Yu suddenly had something so urgent — so urgent to the point he’d rather throw his only umbrella to her than send her to her dorm.

There was no way for her to guess this, but it was very obvious — all of this was solely because of a similar receding figure that held a slight hint of possibility.

Holding his umbrella, Yue Zhishi felt like he was a stray dog who’d suffered through a rough journey. He was pulled down by the rain, his steps slow and heavy. He didn’t know how, but he arrived at a random cafeteria, ceiling to floor windows covering the airy first floor mess hall. It looked very clean inside, so he padded up the steps, closed his umbrella and went in.

When he sat down at a seat near the window, Yue Zhishi finally placed down all of the items in his hands. The palms of his hands had turned red from being strangled, so he kneaded them. He wanted to see if he’d brought any tissues, and as he searched his body, he ended up taking out only his phone.

The screen lit up. There were four missed calls, all from Song Yu.

Yue Zhishi jumped in shock, and he suddenly remembered he still had yet to turn his phone back onto vibrate mode because of his usual school habits. The phone hadn’t sounded at all. He hurriedly lifted his phone, preparing to call back, but the other side was faster and called again. Yue Zhishi was a bit afraid, and he trembled as he picked up the call.

“Where are you right now? Why didn’t you pick up your phone?” Song Yu didn’t sound happy, and his voice was very different from usual — very urgent, and sounded like he was angry.

Yue Zhishi wanted to answer his question, but he really didn’t know where he was. He exited the phone call screen in a fluster, wanting to look at the map, but he was also worried he’d miss Song Yu speaking. He could only stand up and ask someone nearby, “Excuse me, can you please tell me which cafeteria this is?”

On the other side of the phone, Song Yu could hear the person’s very fuzzy answer. He immediately said, “Wait for me.”

Yue Zhishi returned back to his seat next to the glass window and lowered his head to look at his call screen displaying the hung up phone call. He put his phone down on the table, and after two seconds, he lifted it back up again to turn it to vibrate mode.

He couldn’t think. Yue Zhishi’s head dropped, and he stared at the red mark on his palm and the plastic bag drenched by rain. He pulled open the bag and rustled through it without lifting his head — the flowers inside were still intact and were still very fragrant.

What happened today wasn’t exactly what he’d thought would happen before he came. It was a lot messier and much more panicked. He started to think his good luck had once again slipped away.

After only a short moment, his phone once again vibrated. Yue Zhishi immediately picked up the call, placing the phone next to his ear.

“Which floor are you on?”

Knowing he might’ve already arrived, Yue Zhishi twisted around to look towards the door as he explained where he was to Song Yu. “I’m on the first floor, near the big door. Turn right after you come in, and you should be able to see me. I’m wearing…”

“A blue shirt,” Song Yu said first.

The voice over the phone turned pensive. “I’ve found you.”

So quickly? Yue Zhishi looked all around him in bewilderment, searching for Song Yu’s voice, when he suddenly heard the sound of something knocking on the glass from behind his back.

Dong dong——

He twisted his head around. Song Yu was just outside, holding on his phone, his entire body saturated from the rain. Only one layer of clear glass made hazy by the rain separated him from Yue Zhishi.

His raised knuckles were still resting against the glass window, and the little area he was touching was also splotched with water marks.

As if something was controlling his body, Yue Zhishi lifted his palm and laid it against the window, covering Song Yu’s knuckles. But then, in the next second, he felt what he’d done was too foolish and awkwardly wanted to take his hand back.

But Song Yu was always faster.

His bent knuckles spread open, his palm flipped over, and he very naturally rested it against Yue Zhishi’s hand.

“Why’d you run?”

Song Yu was standing in front of him, and yet his voice came to him through the phone. He sounded much more relaxed than before, and this made Yue Zhishi feel as if he’d entered into a trance. But as soon as Song Yu finished speaking, he dropped his hand back down to his body, and he left, walking towards the cafeteria.

Seeing as Song Yu couldn’t see him, Yue Zhishi frowned, thinking of how he’d looked as he desperately ran away earlier. There was no way for him to explain. He decided to take a chance — he felt Song Yu actually hadn’t seen him, and had only guessed that he ran away.

Song Yu arrived in front of him without giving him much time to think, hanging up his phone. His face was covered with water droplets, his short hair and eyebrows completely wet, and even his eyelashes carried tiny drops of water. He clearly should look a lot messier, and yet all the water created a kind of strange, bewitching air around him.

There shouldn’t be anyone who didn’t like that face, Yue Zhishi thought. He completely forgot why Song Yu would be drenched to this extent, when he’d clearly brought an umbrella.

Song Yu asked again, “Why did you run earlier?”

“I didn’t.” Yue Zhishi was subconsciously reluctant to admit it. “You can see how much stuff I’m carrying. How could I run?” He finally quietly grumbled, “I only just arrived.”

“Do you think you’re good at lying?” Song Yu flicked an eyebrow as he spoke.

Even though his voice didn’t sound gentle at all, Yue Zhishi could clearly feel — after seeing him, Song Yu was no longer as urgent as he was earlier on the phone. He’d slowed down, and was also no longer as angry.

But this kind of change was too slight for someone as serious and reserved as Song Yu. Anyone else might think there was no difference in him at all, and that Yue Zhishi was only thinking too much.

He gazed straight at Song Yu’s black eyes, and after an inner struggle, he finally admitted defeat. “You saw me? You shouldn’t have, you clearly hadn’t noticed me before I turned around.” He was very sure about this bit — he’d even used his umbrella to block himself.

Song Yu set down the cap he’d lost earlier.

For a similar body silhouette, he’d run into a torrential downpour.

That reason was too ridiculous, so he made one up on the spot.

“Your umbrella’s transparent.”